The two options
Ongoing work embedded with the teams who own the code, content and releases.
- Previous audit recommendations were never implemented
- Several teams control different parts of the site
- Governance and release process are the real constraint
A defined assessment producing prioritised findings and a plan.
- You have capacity to implement but not to diagnose
- You need an independent view for a decision
- The site is small enough for one team to change
How they differ
| Enterprise engagement | Audit and recommend | |
|---|---|---|
| Deliverable | Changes shipped | Findings and a plan |
| Assumes | Implementation is the constraint | Diagnosis is the constraint |
| Duration | Ongoing | Weeks, then complete |
| Works without internal capacity | Yes, partly | No |
| Best predictor of fit | Past audits went unimplemented | Past recommendations shipped |
What actually decides it
The diagnostic question is uncomfortable and worth asking directly: what happened to the last audit? Organisations that implemented it and want another assessment are good candidates for an audit. Organisations with three unimplemented audits in a drawer have a delivery problem, and commissioning a fourth is buying the same document again.
Enterprise work is mostly unglamorous coordination. Getting a fix into the right team's backlog, surviving the prioritisation meeting, checking it shipped as specified, and confirming it survived the next release. None of that appears in a findings document, and all of it is the difference between a recommendation and a change.
Audits remain the right purchase for plenty of organisations, including large ones with capable internal teams who need an independent read. The failure is buying an audit when the constraint is delivery, which is expensive because the document is fine and the outcome is nothing.
Questions
How do we know which we need?
Look at what happened to the last one. Implemented and wanting a fresh assessment means an audit. Sitting unimplemented means the constraint is delivery, and another document will join it.
Can an agency implement changes directly?
Sometimes, for content and configuration. Code changes usually go through your release process regardless, which is exactly why the coordination work is the substance of an enterprise engagement.
Is enterprise SEO only for very large sites?
It is about organisational complexity rather than page count. A mid-sized company with three teams owning different parts of the site has the same problem as a much larger one.
Related services
- Enterprise SEO — SEO
- Technical SEO Audit — SEO
- SEO Analytics — SEO
- Structured Data Governance — AEO
Still not sure?
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